Thermal Oxide Leakage Question

FAQ

Q. Hows the leakage issue of the thermal oxides?

A. Wet thermal oxide isn’t really designed for insulation/isolation. It is great for photolithography masking, but is too porous to make a good insulator. At 300nm it may work if the conditions are not too extreme. Our recommendation for isolation oxides or gate oxides is Dry Thermal Oxide, especially Dry Thermal Chlorinated Oxide. 300nm of this should take care of leakage. There is the top of the line oxide, Dry Thermal Chlorinated Oxide with an anneal in forming gas, but this isn’t usually needed.

Summary – 300nm of wet oxide may be fine, but it is better to go with 300nm of dry oxide and maybe one of the upgrades.

We don’t have any data on leakage or breakdown voltage. This depends too much on the customer’s processing and on their test method.